In case you missed it this week, The Washington Post has launched a new series focused on federal workers who are finalists for the Samuel J. Heyman Service America Medal awards.

Fenella G. France with a copy of Thomas Jefferson's hand-written draft of the Declaration of Independence. France works in the Preservation Research and Testing Division of the Library of Congress and is a finalist for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America award. (Mark Gail/THE WASHINGTON POST)

The “GS” series launched Thursday with a profile of Fenella France, a leading cultural heritage preservation scientist at the Library of Congress who solved a mystery regarding Thomas Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration of Independence.

In a note to readers,WP editors said of the series: In the world of the federal workforce, GS means “general schedule,” the largest pay system for civil servants. We’ve borrowed the initials for our weekly series profiling metro area federal workers. Profile subjects have been pulled from a list of 34 employees from across the country nominated for the 2011 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal awards. The “Sammies” — offered in nine categories — are the Academy Awards of the federal world ans sponsored by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service.

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